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About the pens

The pen is almost entirely 3d-printed in fine layers arranged to reflect light from almost any angle and produce a glistening, shining pen that stands out from the pack of commonplace smooth-bodied injection moulded or turned pens.

• Available in many different colours and colour combinations and eye-catching surface patterns.
• Medium sized to fit into most hands. The section is luxuriously long, tapered, and micro-textured for grip and long writing comfort. (A larger model will be available soon.)
• Jowo #5 nib (stainless steel) in a standard housing. Jowo is a major German manufacturer of high quality nibs and every nib is tested and adjusted if necessary, so there is no chance that your nib will not write well straight out of the box.
• An International Standard cartridge converter is included with each full-sized pen for bottled ink. Pocket pens (Quokkas) are supplied with a mixed set of ink cartridges.
• The cap unscrews in less than 2 turns and has an inner sealing step to reduce nib drying between uses. The cap can be deeply and securely posted onto the back of the pen during use without risk of making unsightly scratches on the body (except for the terracotta pens which should not be posted).
• An eccentrically located weight acts like a roll-stop to reduce the chance that your pen will roll off your desk.

Construction

The pen is made from seven nesting components, 3d-printed from plastic with characteristics matching the functional requirements of each part.

• The body and cap outer casings are made of boldly coloured, silky shining PLA plastic that looks and feels great. The plastic is hard and chemically resistant so that ink can be readily washed off with soapy water.
• The cap liner is softer than the outer casings to minimise the risk of scratches when the pen is posted (i.e. when the cap is placed on the back of the pen while the pen is being used).
• The section liner is made from a plastic that allows fine threads to be printed to engage the removable nib unit. The inner and outer portions of threads that join the section to the body are made of different plastics to prevent both wear and binding of the threads.
• The inner and outer components of the body, the cap, and the section are all sandwiched together with marine epoxy for long-lasting strength and resilience.

Packaging

Platypus pens are not delivered in a plastic sleeve within a presentation box within a cardboard box within… Instead, your Platypus pen comes in entirely recycled, re-used, or rescued packaging, most of it recyclable at your end. Any bubble wrap or equivalent padding is re-used from parcels delivered to us during lockdown, and cardboard is taken from those parcels or from filament boxes. Our attitude is that we are selling pens, not flashy boxes. We are confident that the pen will reach you in good condition, and if it is damaged in transit we will replace it. 

Nonetheless, if you are purchasing the pen as a gift or it you really want that special ‘unboxing experience’ then please let us know, as we can put the pen into shiny and fun 3D-printed spiral tubes. (At extra cost to you, of course.)

Purchasing a Platypus fountain pen

The Platypus fountain pens cost $150 for Model 1 and $170 for Model 10, plus postage. Those are Australian dollars and at the moment they equate to about US$110 and US$125, or €93 and €105, respectively.

To buy a pen you should send an email to the pen-maker, Michael Lew, using the ‘Contact Us’ page via the menu at the top of this page.

Platypus fountain pens are mostly made to order, which takes about three days (assuming that there is no wait list), but there is usually a small number of ready-made pens available. Ask by email about the colours and patterns.

Payment is via a Paypal invoice that will be sent once the pen is ready, and that invoice can be paid via credit or debit card or, if you have a PayPal account, directly using PayPal. If you prefer to use a direct deposit (“e-transfer”) then that can be arranged.

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All blog posts (oldest to newest)

• 3D printing for fountain pen users
• Why 3D print a pen?
• Layers of sheen
• In Praise of the Cartridge Converter
• 3D printing a fountain pen: difficulties and their solutions.
• The shapes of Platypus fountain pens
• The terracotta platypus
• Quokka: a platypus for your pocket